All Forum Posts by: Franky Aikens

@Daniel Klein I'm new to the city of Philadelphia. Just finished a major renovation on primary home in South Philly that we purchased in the spring. I'll be looking for an investment property soon and the zoom REI calls you speak of sounds like a great thing to partake in. How does one get access to join?

@Ross Yeager Hi Ross - I just renovated a primary residence in South Philly (East Passyunk) and will be looking for an investment property soon. What areas of Philly are you investing in?

Hi BP! Just finishing up renovations on my primary residence and I'm looking forward to creative ways to purchase my next property. I'm considering the seller finance strategy because there's more flexibility with terms and down payments.

Wondering if BP Nation had any advice on the best ways to find a seller thats welling to consider selling financing (is there a profile for these folks?), possible deal structures and ways to proposition an owner with seller financing as an option. 

I know a lot depends on the specifics of deal opportunity but I'd would really appreciate any high level nuggets I can get. Thanks!

Depends on the financial goal and nuances each strategy. Each require a different set of resources including your time. Of course, if the location of the home isn't a desirable location for short stays, AirBnb is ruled out. Since you are considering it, I'm guessing the location checks that box. I agree with @Matthew Masoud. Maybe try both if they're both an option. 

@Michael Askew I was in your shoes at the start of 2020. My wife and I were living in Westchester County, NY. We just had a kid in August, 2019 and wanted to purchase a home in Philly to be closer to family. We started looking in the East Passyunk area which is probably the most desirable area in South Philly. Family friendly with wonderful restaurants. At that time, the houses were being sold faster than we could get in to view them. We finally found a place in East Passyunk in the most amazing location the property itself was a gem. We put in an offer that was accepted.  We went on to do a full gut renovation.  My wife is a high end interior designer so we were able to customize the house just as we wanted.

 This was when covid was starting to peak for the first time and lending criteria started tightening as we were going through the mortgage process. We even had to switch lenders in the middle of the process! With our new lender, we got a loan that had a renovation budget rolled into it. Exactly what we needed.

But you are correct, transfer taxes and closing costs are pretty high so having a good amount saved for those costs and a downpayment is key. 

Wholesalers are a significant segment in real estate investing, especially in Philadelphia. The city has now passed into law new regulations to crack down on wholesalers. According to an article in the Philadelphia inquire, Philly is the first city in the nation to take measures against wholesalers. Given the nature of the wholesale transactions, it could be difficult to enforce these laws since wholesalers rarely acquire deeds to the properties they contract for resell making it somewhat of a shadow transaction. 

But it think the attempt by lawmakers to regulate the wholesaling could be significant. Could Philadelphia prompted other cities/states to follow suite to put a squeeze on wholesaling or stop it all together? Curious to know what you all think.

Article: https://www.inquirer.com/news/...

Welcome to BP @Jovan Ellis.  I just purchased and is renovating a row home in South Philly (primary residence). I'll be looking for an investment property soon. Good luck with your journey.

@Cameron Lam Amazing! This is both inspirational and super informational. I'll definitely be revisiting this post over and over again. Thanks for sharing, man! It's people like you and posts like this that makes BP so valuable. And, congrats on your speedy success. If you were able to do all of that in 2 years, sky's the limit for you in the years to come.

Thanks for sharing @David Haynes!

Thank you @Brendan McAllister! I feel like I should be sending you a check for such incredible info! haha. You pretty much confirmed what what I've been thinking about that area. Those stats show incredible appreciation!